Newtown receives $3.1M federal grant

Nanci G. Hutson

Updated 10:45 pm, Wednesday, September 3, 2014

NEWTOWN -- Schools Superintendent Joseph Erardi Jr. praised federal lawmakers and officials Wednesday for awarding an additional $3.1 million grant to help students, staff and parents recover from the trauma of the Sandy Hook shootings of 2012.

The grant, part of the School Emergency Response to Violence program is "integral" to the community's recovery, Erardi said during a conference call with the U.S. Department of Education.

Members of the state's congressional delegation -- Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Elizabeth Esty -- also took part in the call, saying the grant dollars come from a nation that will never forget Newtown.

The financial commitment bears witness to how this nation has been changed by what happened in one New England community, Esty said.

The tragedy was "felt by all of us and underscores how much we must do to change this country," she said.

"This community is starting to get back to normal, slowly, and I emphasize the word slowly,'' Murphy said.

Since the shootings 18 months ago that killed 20 first-graders and six faculty members, the Newtown school district has received some $15 million in federal aid, as well as a $50 million state grant to build a new Sandy Hook Elementary School on land adjacent to that once occupied by the now-demolished school off Dickinson Drive.

More than $6 million of the federal aid was to provide mental health resources to students, staff and families at Sandy Hook as well as the district's six other schools. The remaining dollars have been focused on building security, including salaries for security officers.

Newtown now has a blend of armed and unarmed officers, with at least one of each in each of seven schools.

The new grant will allow the district to hire three additional school counselors, five school psychologists and three social workers to be dispersed through the four elementary and intermediate schools, Erardi said. Part-time assistance may be added at the middle and high schools, he said.

Erardi said research shows that healing from such a tragedy takes time, perhaps as long as 12 to 15 years.

From his perspective, Erardi said, the district last year "ran on adrenaline.''

"That adrenaline may wane,'' the superintendent said. "We may have a more complex year this year than the one we had last year.''

On Tuesday night, Erardi announced to the school board a $1.2 million state grant that will enable the district to hire counselors for each of the four elementary schools for the next three years.

"We are in a rebuilidng mode, and we will be for quite some time. And we look for recovery and rebuilding with dignity, one student at a time,'' he declared.

Blumenthal agreed.

"This tragedy was truly unspeakable," he said. "But the community came together. And now this funding will show how we are keeping faith with this great community. Even the strong, and the strongest, need help."